One Heart
by ShesaMadHatter
Summary: So the Time Lord just sort-of left the Human Doctor and Rose on the beach. But how do they live together when Rose knows he both is and isn't her Doctor?
1. Chapter 1

_A/N I started to think about what came after Journey's End? Then I was locked in a camper for a week with no internet, and this is what came out. Enjoy? Maybe? I've never written Doctor Who fic before, so please forgive any mistakes. (Thank you Rakey for drilling into my head "TARDIS not Tardis.") Oh, and I havn't seen the Specials just yet (waiting... waiting...), I know Billie comes back for a bit, but I don't know in what capacity, so if this contradicts those in any way. I am sorry.  
_

DISCLAIMER; I do not own Doctor Who, I don't even live in the UK.

With one final screech, the TARDIS completely vanished. Leaving Rose, her mother, and the human Doctor standing alone in Bad Wolf Bay. For a few seconds Rose watched the empty space, and unwillingly silent tears spilled down her cheeks. She would never see that little blue box again...

"Rose." The human Doctor said her name, and it made her gasp a little. It felt almost wrong, to trade her Time Lord for a human. Even if they were practically the same person, and they looked the same, sounded the same, and loved her just as much. One fact remained.

The Doctor standing next to her did not have two hearts.

Still, her heart melted when he whispered her name just a few inches from her ear, "Rose. He's gone."

But every part of her screamed "No! You're still here. Right next to me!" Her mind conflicted with her heart, he was here. He was gone. He was here. He was gone. Ever since she had taken that first trip in the crazy blue box, Rose had come to accept impossible and strange things. But this left her spinning more than any possessed Ood.

Rose continued to stare at the indent in the sand. At the footprints leading to it. The only evidence that her Time Lord had been here and left. Evidence that would be washed away within a few hours.

"Sweetheart?" Jackie carefully put herself between the two, and forced Rose to look at her. "Come on. Let's go home."

Rose nodded, and wiped the tears of her face. Then she thought about something, "Mum. We havn't got our passports. Or a car, or anything." They were in Norway, 50 miles away from civilization. With no passports.

Jackie's face hardened, "That's just like him! Leaving us here."

The Doctor stepped forward, "Actually Jackie." He reached into his pockets and pulled out a familiar object.

"Psychic paper." Rose said before he even opened it. The Doctor nodded.

"And Rose has her phone. She can call Pete." The Doctor added, "I'm sure he can arrange something." He scratched the back of his head awkwardly at the mention of Rose's alternate father. Seeing the familiar movement, Rose turned away from him.

She called her father, who called a Torchwood operative to retrieve them immediately.

But that still left them on a deserted beach for a while.

After handing her phone over to Jackie, so she could talk to Pete, Rose wandered down the beach. Away from her chattering mother.

The Doctor followed her of course. But he didn't understand why she wouldn't look at him. Just ten minutes ago she had kissed him! But now she was ignoring him, or avoiding him. As much as someone on a deserted beach can.

After a bit Rose just sat down on the sand. She pulled her legs to her chest and stared at the water. The Doctor towered over her, unsure what to do. So he waited for some kind of sign from her. To go, or to stay. Never before had he been this unsure about what to do.

Then he heard her crying. Over the sound of the waves and birds, she was shaking and sobbing. The sound made his single human heart splinter.

"Rose." Again he just said her name, kneeling next to her and she buried her face into her knees like a child. Not wanting to see him or for him see her. She was just so confused.

The Doctor was confused too, what did he do? She wouldn't even look at him, so was it wrong to hold her? Would she just be even more upset and push him away? But the instinct to wrap her in his arms and soothe her was overwhelming. So he did just that.

She didn't pull away. Instead she tucked herself into him, mourning the other Doctor and his magical machine. Because she had to, had to finally let go.

Of course The Doctor that was with her didn't know that. All he knew, was that she wouldn't look at him, and that now Rose was sobbing into his shoulder.

He also knew that he was holding her. Really holding her. This wasn't just a big hug because once again they had faced death and conquered it. No, this was him being able to gather all of her in his arms and just hold her the way he had always wanted to.

Eventually her tears ran out. But she continued to sit there, huddled close in his arms. And the truth of the matter was that she really did not want to pull away. So the two of them stayed there for a while longer.

"Rose?" The Doctor broke the silence eventually, unable to hold back any longer.

She tilted her face up to look at him. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"I-" Rose paused, searching for a way to explain it, "You- he, left again and that hurts."

"But I'm here."

"I know."

"And I'm him."

"Not entirely." Rose pressed a hand against his chest, feeling the single heart beat.

"Does that mean then." The Doctor felt a little scared, "Do you want me to leave?"

"No!" Rose held onto him tighter at the thought, "No, I just, needed to get that out of my system. It's a bit of a mind twister. You there, you here."

"But I am here. I am The Doctor." He reiterated to her, "I just have a human body. Think of it as my final regeneration. Though I got to keep the same face." He smiled then, hoping she would return it.

And Rose did, "That's one way of putting it." And as she looked up at him, The Doctor considered pressing his lips to hers again. At the same instant, so did she. All those years, she had never kissed him, never pushing.

"Oi! Rose, you can have your phone back." Jackie interrupted the pair before either of them could move on their impulses.

The Doctor jumped half a mile into the air at the sound of Jackie's voice.

"Pete says Torchwood will be here soon."

"All right mum." Rose stood, brushing sand off herself.

"And he's going to find you some documentation." Jackie said to The Doctor, "Seeing as you're from another planet. What's your last name anyways? You can't keep going around telling everyone you're The Doctor."

"John Smith." The Doctor said.

"Oh come on that's not your real name." Jackie rolled her eyes.

"Well, that's a normal human name. And it's one I sometime used to go by. It will do." The Doctor shrugged, and Jackie gave up.

"Hopeless he is." Jackie said to Rose. She looked at him, as the Doctor looked at the sky in exasperation, and just smiled.

"But he's mine." Then she kissed him, and The Doctor forgot about Jackie as his mouth tasted Rose again.

_**There is this little blue button below, and if you press it, the writer gets fed. Free of charge!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N Reviews keep me going! And Special thanks to seconddrink who is being my beta. Any spelling errors are her fault ;-)_

DICLAIMER; I do not own Doctor Who, if I did David would still be The Doctor whether he liked it or not.

Two Torchwood operatives arrived in a car not much later. Jackie yelled at them for being late, and Rose refused to let go of The Doctor's hand. Not that he minded.

In the car, one of the Torchwood people kept glancing back at him. Both The Doctor, and Rose knew who she was, but neither of them said anything. After all, how do you explain to someone that you know them in a parallel universe?

So, Martha Jones was forced to ignore the odd couple. Sure she knew who Rose and her mum were, it was impossible not to considering how almost two years ago Pete Tyler had announced he had found his wife and long lost daughter Rose. It had been all over the news. Not to mention Rose was considered a God at Torchwood. Having truly traveled across the universe. Rumours had it she had traveled with someone called "The Doctor." A Time Lord.

Still, it wasn't her place to ask questions. Just to escort the Tyler women and Mr. John Smith back home.

It was a long drive. And within an hour Rose was asleep, her head resting on the Doctor's shoulder. He found himself watching her sleep, one finger tracing little patterns on her shoulder.

Jackie seemed to be trying to figure out what to say to The Doctor. She waited until Rose was completely asleep before speaking, "If you leave again, I will kill you."

The Doctor was a bit startled as she continued, "Nearly killed her last time. She never even bothered trying again with Mickey despite what I told her. Refused to give up on you. If you break her heart again I will find you."

"I'm not going anywhere." The Doctor protested quietly.

"I'm sure you aren't." Jackie was still being sarcastic, "You've spent nine-hundred years of your life traveling, and I'm supposed to believe you're just going to settle down? I don't think so."

The Doctor felt his temper rising slightly, "You think I've never wanted to settle down? To stay and have a life. Have a wife and kids..." The Doctor trailed off at the thought and looked down at Rose again. Would she want to marry him?

Then he looked back up at Jackie, "Before I never could settle down. I didn't age, I regenerated. But now I have this one life. I will grow old and die just like any other human." The Doctor's voice had risen, and while he didn't know it, Rose had woken up. But she wasn't moving, just listening to him.

"Just like that? You'll give it all up."

"I would. I am." He said firmly, "And besides, it's not like I have anywhere to go anyways. Unless she decides she doesn't want me, I am staying."

Jackie huffed a little, but dropped it. Rose stayed where she was, barely moving so The Doctor didn't know she had heard. She thought about what he had said, The Doctor would grow old with her, maybe even have a full human life with her. She drifted back to sleep thinking about small children with crazy brown hair.

One plane ride later, and they were home. Back on good old English soil.

Pete was still living in his mansion, and they wen't there first. Rose has her own apartment but she wanted to see her brother and father.

Little tony came running out, hobbling along on two chubby legs, "Mummy!" The Doctor had a brief moment of nostalgia thinking of another small child saying Mummy over and over again.

Jackie hugged her son and then he ran over to Rose, "Wose!" Apparantly he wasn't too good with his R's just yet. She picked him up in a big hug, twirling him around once before stopping.

She held him on her hip and said, "Tony, this is The Doctor."

"Docor!" Tony yelled excitedly waving his little arms.

"Hi Tony." The Doctor smiled.

"He knows all about you." Rose said, beaming at her little brother, "Told him all the stories. Well, most of em." She set Tony back onto the ground so he could take off after his mummy.

The Doctor watched the little blonde boy fondly. Then he turned to Rose, "Now what?"

She sighed a bit, "Now we go home."

Rose's apartment was fairly small. She insisted on paying for it herself, and Torchwood didn't pay as well as you would think. That and she hardly spent any time in it, she was always either at her Mum's or at Torchwood, trying to find a way back to The Doctor.

She opened the door, and The Doctor stepped in more cautiously then he ever had stepping out of the TARDIS. The apartment was plain. The kitchen cupboards bare, and it was cleaner than any place Rose had ever been in.

"There's a maid. She comes once a week on Saturdays." Rose explained. She stood awkwardly in the middle of the living room.

"Well. This is it."

The Doctor nodded, "Right. This is home."

"Yeah."

The pair stood awkwardly. Neither of them sure about what the other was thinking. Finally Rose pulled out her phone, "I'll order us some pizza then."

"Right. Sure." The Doctor ran his fingers through his hair, making it stand up a bit more than usual.

"We'll have to do a bit of shopping tomorrow." Rose talked as she looked for the number to the pizza place, "Get you some cloths. And groceries. I supposed I'll be spending a bit more time home now."

She found the number and dialed, "You want one with everything?" She asked.

"Yeah." The Doctor's eating habits hadn't changed with his body.

"Right then. It'll be a bit." Again there was an awkward silence, and The Doctor could not figure out how to fill it.

"I'm going to take a shower. All that traveling and everything." Rose turned and left him standing by the TV.

He heard the hot water blast, and then finally he cursed himself. Why was he here? Obviously there was nowhere else to go, and he loved Rose. But he couldn't take much more of this awkwardness between them. Things had to fall one way or the other. He paced the small space for a bit.

Suddenly he heard a series of loud bangs coming from the bathroom. In two seconds he was at the door, knocking, "Rose you ok?"

"Yeah. Just knocked over a few things." Rose's voice was slightly muffled, "I'm fine."

"All-right. Just checking." The Doctor resumed his pacing, trying to decided what to do. What to say. He kept looking at the bathroom door, trying not to think about Rose showering in there. Alone in the hot water.

Ten minutes later Rose came out of the bathroom, wrapped in a light blue towel. The Doctor only saw her for a few seconds as she walked across the hall into her room. Presumably to put on fresh cloths, but those few seconds elicited a response that could only be described as human.__

Rose knew the Doctor would be watching when she ran across the hall. And she kind-of hoped he might just see her in the way she had seen him. She allowed herself a smile, he was human now. And that meant he was completely susceptible to her womanly charms. This might be fun.

_**Go all 10**__**th**__** Doctor and hit that great big threatening button below which must not be pressed :D**_


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N- A thousand thanks to the reviewers! You make me keep writing :-) This chapter is a bit shorter._

**DISCLAIMER; I don't own Doctor Who. If I did it would be American and thus suck.**

When Rose emerged in sweats and a loose shirt, The Doctor looked down at his attire. Blue suit, he loved this suit but he currently had nothing to change into...

She checked her watch, "Come on. We've got to pick up the pizza."

"Right." Hmm, food. The Doctor's stomach rumbled at the thought.

"We should stop by mum's real quick. I forgot to find you some cloths while we were there."

Great, just what The Doctor wanted. Another encounter with her mother. Rose must have seen his face because she quickly came up with another solution, "Or, I could just call dad and he could have someone bring you some things."

The Doctor brightened at this thought. Rose smiled seeing his shoulders lift in a sign of happiness. He sure wasn't talking much. Something that was very unusual for The Doctor...

Together the pair walked down the street to the pizzeria. The Doctor paled slightly when Rose paid for the pizza.

"What's wrong?" She asked when they left, him carrying the hot box.

"I have to get a job." The Doctor looked absolutely terrified. "And I have to, to manage money!" He looked at Rose, "My God, I'll have to get a mortgage!"

Rose grinned, tongue poking out between her teeth for a moment, "Told you." She sing-songed.

All the way home he chattered on, "And taxes! How exactly do you pay taxes? Give me a broken boost reversal circuit any day. But taxes? And insurance and..." On and on and on, until finally they were home, sitting on Rose's couch, and he had to stop talking in order to chew.

Rose didn't mind it though. It showed her that he was her Doctor. One who could talk at a hundred miles a second and was terrified of mortgage.

So she let him talk and talk as he ate.

But then the food ran out. And The Doctor stopped his chattering. Rose couldn't decide what exactly to do as the silence stretched out awkwardly.

Neither of them were certain _why_ things were awkward. Only that they were. The Doctor wasn't used to being human, and Rose wasn't used to it either. In truth if both of them would stop thinking so damn much, they would both find they wanted the same things.

"So." Rose paused, biting her lip, "I'll wash then."

"Right." And Rose picked up the plates as The Doctor grabbed the empty box.

She began to wash and he stole a rag to wipe the table. After that he took the now clean dishes and put them away without properly drying them. Just like old time.

Rose smiled at the old routine. She washed the dishes and he would do everything else. It was something they had developed gradually in her first year with him, then after his regeneration, The Doctor had officially hated washing dishes. For some reason he just would not. Rose suspected he just used his new body as an excuse, but she did like not having to take care of garbage, or counters, or putting away.

The Doctor turned from the cabinet to ser Rose staring off into space. Wrapped in a memory. He found himself hoping it was about him. And he set about rememorizing her face. Two years, he mused. Two years without her smile, and her teasing.

And even here with no make-up, little sleep, and sloppy clothing, he thought she was the most beautiful person he had ever seen. And that was saying something considering he had traveled the universe for nine-hundred years.

At this thought The Doctor's mind followed a new direction. Nine-hundred years. Time. So little of it left to him now. He had what, fifty, sixty years in this body? Maybe more if he was very lucky.

Time suddenly had a completely new perspective for him. He thought about it constantly, but always how much he had, never how little. The Doctor had dreamed about settling down, growing old, and dying. But that had been a safe dream because it was impossible. And now here the dream was staring him in the face in the form of a beautiful clever blonde girl. And what was he doing? Nothing!

Rose pulled out of her little memory and looked at The Doctor, who suddenly had a look of intense concentration on his face.

"Doctor?" She asked cautiously, stepping forward. He barely registered her, still thinking intently.

"Doctor." Rose put a hand on his face, turning his eyes towards her.

"Rose." He breathed her name, and then he lost control.

A single tear drifted down his face. And without thinking she pulled him to her. He buried his face in her shoulder, dragging in a ragged breath.

"It's ok. I'm here." She said to him, and together they both stopped thinking. Later Rose thought she kissed him first. Or had he? But then they knew they were together. Finally together again. He wasn't going to fly away in a blue box, and she wasn't going to be trapped again.

Her lips met his, and the two pressed together, desperate to physically be together in a way they had never allowed themselves to be before. Allowing to stop thinking, and just feel. Feel each other, and worship the other's body.

That night Rose fell asleep clutching the Doctor's hand. His other arm wrapped around her, holding her to his thin frame.

Sleep wouldn't come, because he was still thinking about time. About how little there was. And he didn't want to sleep, he wanted to hold her forever. Keep her close and forever feel her clutching his hand.

The Doctor wanted her to never have to worry about losing him again. And as she slept, he promised that to her. He whispered secrets of Gallifrey to her as she slept, telling her about The Master, and the toclafane. About his travels with Martha and Donna. He talked and talked and talked. Until finally he closed his eyes and slept.

_**A/N I have to end the fic here I am afraid. I know, mean me, but I am no good with long fics. Plus this resolves most of my issues with the ending.**_

**_Review your anger out. Or Love. Or whatever ;-)  
_**


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